


Beyond The Threshold

by Aqualegia



Category: Stargate Atlantis, Threshold
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Romance.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-11-08
Updated: 2005-11-08
Packaged: 2018-04-27 19:11:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5060626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aqualegia/pseuds/Aqualegia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes the past and the future collide in the most unexpected places.<br/>Spoilers: Set during and just after the Atlantis second season episode "Intruder".</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beyond The Threshold

**Author's Note:**

> Jerome Horne (Nicholas Lea) is the main character in the film Threshold.

 

Colonel Steven Caldwell entered the sickbay and looked around for signs of Sheppard whom he'd ordered to have tests run on to make sure he'd suffered no ill effects from being beamed directly to the bridge aboard the Daedalus.

He spotted the Atlantis project's chief surgeon, and made his way over to see him.

"Doctor Beckett!"

Beckett half turned from the patient he was treating. "Yes, Colonel Caldwell?"

"How is Colonel Sheppard?"

Raising his eyebrows, Beckett said, "Let me just finish this, and I'll be with you." He finished the procedure he was carrying out and stepped back from the bed, revealing that he had been treating a young technician, and not Sheppard as Caldwell had assumed.

"Come with me, Colonel, and we'll find out," Beckett said as he led the way into an observation room overlooking one of the diagnostic chambers, where Sheppard was lying on the examination table. A red light showing on the access panel to the inner door warning them to go no further.

"I would have thought you would have been running the tests on him yourself," Caldwell commented.

"When we recruited more senior staff we flung our net far and wide, Colonel. The man examining John Sheppard is far more qualified then me to run these tests. He's an ex-astronaut, and a NASA doctor... well, ex-NASA now of course... and I count myself very lucky that I was able to persuade him that he would like to join us."

Caldwell nodded, and followed the doctor into the chamber now that a green instead of a red light was showing on the access panel.

"You can get dressed and return to duty, Colonel Sheppard," the Doctor was saying. "You don't appear to have suffered any ill-effects from your unorthodox arrival on the bridge."

Sheppard grinned wryly at him. "Thanks, Doc, that's comforting to know." He slipped on the robe lying over the back of a chair, and disappeared in the direction of the changing room, and a meeting with Rodney McKay to continue the check of the 'other bits' which had been interrupted by the arrival of Dr. Horne.

"Doctor Horne, I'd like you to meet Colonel Caldwell. He would like to-."

Turning round Horne interrupted him. "Colonel Caldwell and I are already acquainted."

Beckett was momentarily taken aback. "Oh! Oh, well - er - in that case I'll leave you to discuss Colonel Sheppard's fitness for duty. I have a patient I really need to see...." he said, dismissing them from his mind as he hurried away.

"When were you going to tell me you were aboard the Daedalus, Jerome?"

Jerome Horne shrugged. "I'm listed amongst the personnel transferring to Atlantis, Steven."

"You weren't on the list I was given a couple of week's ago."

Jerome resisted the urge to shrug again. "Probably not. NASA were reluctant to let me go, plus a place was being held open for another specialist who decided not to come at the last moment. I understand Dr Weir spoke to the President who overruled NASA's objections. John let me know in no uncertain terms that he didn't want me to leave. Plausible deniability gets more difficult when you have to let new people in on the secret. Their initial reaction is always the same: they are outraged that we are perpetrating a big, fat lie. That we are hoodwinking the general population with our efforts to reach Mars when we have ships like Prometheus and Daedalus."

"I didn't think NASA were informed at all."

"Originally we weren't. Not until we had a plague of alien moths to deal with which were brought back to Earth by one of the shuttle astronauts who was hit by space dust during an EVA."

"Clay Collins wasn't it?"

A pained expression crossed Jerome's face. "He was a good friend."

Steven nodded. "We were briefed about that, and detailed to keep an eye on the dust clouds."

After a long silence Jerome said, "I blame myself for letting it get out of hand. I should have reported them to FEMA when the moths first flew out the hospital window."

"Jerome, no one could have imagined that a moth could be so inimical to human life; not even you. I'm pretty sure that FEMA would have said, 'thanks for the report' and filed it."

Jerome looked at him quizzically. "Sympathy, Steven?"

"I've learned lot of things since we were on Shuttle missions together... since you walked out on me."

Before Jerome could respond, Caldwell's presence was requested on the bridge. With a hurried, 'we'll talk later', the Daedalus' Commander returned to duty.

-oo0oo-

After treating some more of the injured passengers and crew, Carson Beckett did a last round of the infirmary checking on all the patients which had been injured during the battle with the Wraith virus, blessing the day that they'd persuaded Jerome Horne to join the Atlantis Expedition.

He thought back to the files he'd read on all those it had been suggested might like to join the expedition. The one on Jerome Horne had stood out against every other candidate they were considering: An athlete, a scientist and a doctor; a member of the crew on two shuttle missions, and now NASA's chief physician.

With a genius IQ, he'd gained his qualifications while still too young for any hospital administrators' peace of mind, so he'd joined the military to gain the necessary practical experience.

While with them he'd been decorated for bravery, though it hadn't been said where or why. He'd become a qualified pilot, and then had come the shuttle missions.

The final thing in his favour had been that he'd already come into contact with a dangerous alien life-form and had proved instrumental in eventually defeating it.

Because of this, and some of his other work, Horne already had the high security clearance necessary for the Atlantis expedition members.

Although Horne himself wasn't totally convinced that he wanted to join the expedition when he'd been invited, he had signed the necessary forms when asked to do so,

Meeting Jerome Horne face to face had been a surprise. The physical description and photographs hadn't prepared him for meeting the handsome, six foot one, green-eyed, dark-haired reality. The photographs hadn't conveyed the magnetism one felt in his presence. As arrogant as McKay in his own way, he seemed totally oblivious of the effect he had on most of the females, and some of the males, with whom he came into contact.

The interview itself had gone well. Jerome Horne was very easy to get on with, and Beckett had put him at the top of the list of people to join his team, but then NASA had refused to let him go. Horne had shrugged and got on with his job, unconcerned whether he joined the expedition or not.

Reluctantly Beckett had put the notation beside his name on the final list he'd given to Elizabeth Weir. Almost at the last moment, when it appeared they would be travelling back to Atlantis one person short on the medical team, pressure had been applied to NASA from above, and Doctor Horne had been hurried aboard the Daedalus a few hours before the craft was due to leave.

-oo0oo-

Later turned out to be rather longer than either of them thought.

Caldwell's time was taken up with dealing with the Wraith virus and its aftermath. Horne was kept busy treating people who'd been affected by the virus' direct actions against those who tried to thwart it; and those who'd, inevitably, had accidents while the power systems had been shut off.

So it was two days after settling into his job on Atlantis that Horne found Colonel Caldwell standing just outside the door to his quarters when he returned from his duty shift in the medical centre.

"Have you eaten, Jerome?" Steven asked, his eyes dancing with mischief.

Jerome gave a wry smile, knowing that Steven already knew the answer to the question. "No, Steven, I haven't."

"In that case, would you care to join me in my quarters on the Daedalus for dinner? No strings attached. I just want to talk... to finish our discussion."

"Positively no strings?"

"I promise, no strings."

"All right, then. I'll get changed and meet you there in...?"

"Fifteen minutes."

"Fifteen minutes." Jerome repeated after him, and then disappeared into his quarters.

Steven grinned and went on his way with a new spring in his step.

-oo0oo-

Exactly fifteen minutes later, Steven admitted Jerome to his quarters and gestured across the room to where a table was laid for dinner.

"Please take a seat, Jerome." He took a quick look over the table and the sideboard before turning to the steward standing nearby. "Thank you, Peters, I'll ring if we need anything else."

"Yes, sir," the man acknowledged, then left them alone.

Steven poured them both a glass of apple juice, then lifted his glass in a toast.

Jerome repeated the gesture and their glasses clinked together over the centre of the small table.

During the meal they talked of people they had known at NASA and thrill of space flight on their first mission together. Caldwell as the shuttle's pilot and Horne as the chief scientist and mission doctor combined.

It wasn't until they were drinking their coffee that Steven turned the conversation to themselves and asked the question which was uppermost in his mind. "Why did you walk out on me, Jerome?"

"Do you really need me to spell it out for you?" Jerome countered.

Steven stared intently into his coffee for a while. "I guess I do," he finally admitted, speaking so quietly that Jerome had to strain to hear him.

Jerome stared at him for a moment, his lips tightening. "The letter I left explained it rather well, I thought."

"Ididnreadit," Steven mumbled, still refusing to look up.

"You didn't... read it? For heaven's sake, Steven.... Why?"

Steven lurched to his feet and paced back and forth between the table and his desk.

"I was upset and angry that you'd just write off our relationship."

"You can't say that I didn't warn you. I told you more than once that I was not happy with the way things were going.... Then, when NASA offered me the job of chief physician, did I get any congratulations from you? No! The only thing that seemed to concern you was what effect it was going to have on *your* life."

Jerome took a deep breath, and lowered the tone of his voice. "It didn't seem to matter that it was a great boost to my career. Nor did it seem to matter what I said. After two weeks of your selfish complaints, I couldn't take any more. That's why I wrote the letter, Steven. Since you wouldn't listen, I hoped that you would take more notice of the written word."

Steven stopped beside his desk and looked out of the small window. "I went to your apartment, but it was empty. No one seemed to know where you'd gone..."

An exasperated sigh, cut him off. "Steven, the answer was in the letter. I gave you my new address, plus some ground rules for the continuation of our relationship. I know that you are ambitious, and will grasp any opportunity to get what you want, but you've got to learn that it will not always get you what you desire....

"People are not possessions, Steven, I am not going to stay at home like a 'good little house-husband' and wait for you to return. I have a career and responsibilities of my own, and I expected you to respect that.

"I took an oath when I became a doctor, and another when I joined the military. The first enjoined me to 'do no harm' the second, to defend my country and my comrades to my utmost ability. You often asked what the medal was for, well now you've got the same security clearance that I have, you could probably look it up for yourself. However, I'm going to save you the trouble of doing the research and tell you."

Steven, who had been frozen in place by the tirade, took two steps and sank into a comfortable chair, as if his legs would no longer support him.

Jerome swivelled in his seat so that he was still facing his ex-lover. "I started to learn to fly as soon as I was old enough to hold a licence. I didn't need any money to pay my way through college, I had scholarships coming out of my ears, but I still worked. Firstly because I reckoned that I would know more about my future patients, and secondly to pay for my flying lessons."

He paused to take a sip of water, and to organize his thoughts.

"To my surprise my hobby was taken into account when I joined the Navy. They trained me to fly helicopters as well as other types of aircraft, and I very soon found myself on a SEAL support team as doctor and spare pilot. It was on one of those missions that circumstances conspired to force me to make a choice... a very hard choice... between my two Oaths." He looked down and took another sip of water. "I chose to pick up a gun to defend my comrades. I found a self that I didn't know existed; a warrior that was difficult to put back in the closet when the fighting was over.

"Since then I've had to don the warrior's mantle twice more. Once while I was still on the support team, the second time, much more recently, while fighting the alien insects. I've no doubt that I shall have to do so again now that we are exploring a new galaxy, especially since there's every possibility that I'm going to become part of a gate team. Dr. Weir wants us all to settle in first, then some of us will be visiting the planets that have been cleared for further contact or exploration by the teams of Colonel Sheppard and Major Lorne."

"With a view to forming further 'first contact' teams in the future?"

"I expect so. "

Steven scowled, first the evening was not going the way he had planned, and now Jerome was calmly announcing that he was going to gate to other worlds.

Jerome smothered a grin; he knew exactly what the other man was thinking, but he wasn't going to make it easy for him. Steven had to accept him as he was, not as he wanted him to be.

Steven looked up to meet Jerome's eyes. "Is there going to be room in your life for me?" he asked bitterly.

"Do you really want there to be?" Jerome wasn't going to give in too easily.

"Yes..." he cleared his throat. "Yes, I do."

"And do you solemnly swear that you will not try to control my life again?"

Steven put his hand over his heart. "I do," he promised. He'd been extremely miserable without Jerome in his life and was determined not to make the same mistake again.

Jerome got to his feet and started to walk towards the door.

"Aren't you going to stay?" Steven sounded shocked.

Jerome turned and shook his head. "No, Steven, I'm not. As an ex-colleague, having dinner in your quarters will not excite comment, however, my staying overnight on the Daedalus is not an option. You should know that as well as I do - even if you are the commander."

Reluctantly acknowledging that Jerome was right, Steven nodded, then made a suggestion. "Doctor Weir has assigned quarters to me on Atlantis. Perhaps it's about time I started to use them." He gave Jerome a conspiratorial grin.

Jerome grinned back. "Can I help you find your quarters, Colonel Caldwell?"

"I'd appreciate that, Doctor Horne."

"I'll wait for you outside the docking bay doors, then."

-oo0oo-

Twenty minutes later, Steven stepped into the area outside the docking bay, carrying a small bag in one hand. Jerome pushed away from the wall where he'd been leaning, and fell into step beside him.

"Do you know where your quarters are?"

"Yes, Doctor Weir showed me to them during my first visit to Atlantis, and bade me use them as often as needed."

"In that case, lead the way."

When they finally stopped outside a door, Jerome laughed, causing Steven to turn round abruptly. "What's so funny?"

"My quarters are just around the next corner... and you didn't mention it. I should imagine that your balcony and mine adjoin one another." The laughter bubbled up again.

Steven grinned in return. "Doctor Weir and the fates are obviously smiling on us; and as for not mentioning it - as I've never used them, I didn't think about it." He palmed open his door and led the way inside.

Once the door was closed and privacy ensured, the stiff formality fell away. Steven took Jerome in his arms and kissed him thoroughly... receiving an enthusiastic response, and a demanding tongue, in return.

Their progress towards the bed was slow as they reaquainted themselves with the touch and feel of the other's body. After toeing off their shoes, they slowly divested each other of clothes, pausing to touch... and kiss... and lick at each newly exposed patch of skin....

They now seemed to be so much more in tune with one another than ever before that maybe this time they stood a good chance that their love for one another would be enough to see them through any trials this new galaxy could throw at them.

Only time would tell....

.../End


End file.
